18 June, 2007

Sweet 'n Sour Badane Palya

Brinjal, often described as ‘the king of vegetables’ … You either love it or hate it! Luckily I fall into the Brinjal lover category and so does my Appa. When we were kids, sometimes after school hours my sister and I would go to my dad’s clinic for routine dental check up and wait in his office till he finished his work. We both would sit in his office which had a glass partition and watch Appa treating his patients in fascination. We both never got tired of waiting for him to finish his work as the clinic was always filled with people and lots of small kids to play with. My sister and myself were quite used to the attention received by his assistants and patients and we enjoyed when we were called as Putani (small) Doctors. Appa being a generous soul would never take money for treatment from poor people or charge very less when they insisted on pay. Some of his patients were farmers and they would come with a big cane basket filled with fresh vegetables and fruits from their farm which would last for weeks.

So whenever my Appa got chance to buy vegetables he would jump at the chance and enjoy it. When most of the customers tried to negotiate the price with the vendor, Appa would stand quietly in one corner and watch them in amusement. Bargaining is something which my dad never liked and for this reason every vegetable vendor loved selling vegetables to him. Without wasting too much of time in picking the vegetables or negotiating the prices, he would come home with bag full of selected vegetables of his choice. It was a tough time for Amma as she had to throw half the rotten vegetables which those smart vegetables vendors used to sneak without my dad’s knowledge. Every time Amma would beg Dad to not to buy vegetables and waste half of money on rotten vegetables and he would smile charmingly and continue to shop for vegetables. I am not sure if he enjoyed buying the vegetables or enjoyed watching my mom grumbling for getting vegetables without checking properly. I remember the day when he got a dozen of tomatoes when the tomato prices were rocketing and only three were good enough for cooking.One vegetable he would always pick was Brinjal/Eggplant. My Amma used to cook different delicious eggplant dishes using different varieties of eggplants. Back in my native, we get a special type of eggplant which is famously known as Udupi Gulla Badane or Matti Gulla which is excellent for Sambar, Majjige Huli (buttermilk and coconut based) and sweet and tangy Gojju. Gulla Badane is round shaped, light green coloured Brinjal and Amma used to cook sweet and sour Badane Palya which I remember relishing with steam cooked rice and chilled yogurt. This thinly sliced eggplant delicately cooked in a tangy tamarind puree and sweet jaggery and lightly spiced up with aromatic sambar powder to give it extra flavour and aroma is a favourite dish in our family. Unlike other usual Palyas where we just stir fry vegetables, this Badane Palya is packed with three different flavours. The finished product is a silky smooth eggplant which tickles your taste bud and makes very satisfying meal all together. This is my contribution to this month's JFI-Eggplant guest hosted by Sangeeta of Ghar Ka Khana.

Method:Soak tamarind in a cup of warm water for 10 minutes and squeeze out the pulp.In a mean while cut the eggplant in the middle vertically and cut each halve into long, thin, vertical stripes. Chop these strips into 2 inch pieces and keep them immersed in cold water till needed. Soaking eggplants in cold water will help in stopping the eggplant pieces turning dark in colour.Heat a tbsp of oil in a heavy bottomed pan and add all the ingredients listed for tempering.When mustard stars to pop and sputter add the tamarind puree, jaggery, slit green chillies and another cup of water.Bring this mixture to boil and then add sliced eggplant pieces and mix them well.Cover and cook for 5 minutes and sauté them in between.Now add sambar powder, turmeric powder and salt to taste and mix them well.Cook this uncovered in medium to low flame for another 5-7 minutes till all the water is evaporated and the eggplant is cooked well.Serve this sweet and sour Badane Palya hot with steamed rice and chilled yogurt.

Sweet 'n Sour Badane Palya

Tip:Mix this sweet 'n sour Badane Palya with the left over rice and make a delicious plate of Brinjal Rice in a minute.Did You Know?The eggplant is part of the "nightshade" family which includes tomatoes, potatoes and sweet peppers.The eggplant actually becomes bitter as it ages so use it promptly. The older the eggplant, the tougher the skin.Eggplant is actually a fruit but is cooked and eaten as a vegetable.Women in the Orient used to use the peel of the eggplant as dye to stain their teeth gray because that was the rage.(Source: www.deliciousorganics.com)

62 comments
:

Hi Sups! Howdy? I remember Gulla!:)) Here in US,I think they are called Thai Eggplants,green and white stripes,round ones.But they are very soft when cooked and lot of seeds inside,so I don't buy them.Badanekai palya looks delicious.Very easy recipe.I will try in 2 weeks.JFI is coming on Wednesday.Believe me,I don't want to cook another Eggplant for few weeks!!;PHope you had a good weekend.We went bowling and shopping for dad on Sunday!:))

Tamarind, Eggplant & Sambhar powder?? Now thats a combination I like! I used to hate eggplant with a passion when I was a kid, not now though, I could eat it every week!Hope you're feeling better, buddy!:)trupti

Sia, the name sounded all greek and latin to me :)) I can relate to the 'attention' u re referring here...Whenever I used to go to the college where my father used to teach, I used to get this 'attention' from his students..."oh..sir's daughter.." did enjoy that honestly :D your dish is something new to me, hmm..my hubby will not come anywhere near this...he belongs to the haters group :)

Hi Sups, oops Putani :))) Brinjal palya is looking Graaand. Sweet and sour must be be really tasty.I made your mango rice recipe. It was very tasty. The left over rice tasted even better the next day. Thanx for the recipe :)

@priar,badane is the kannada word for eggplant:) no wonder the name is new to u;) thank u dear.

@ashakka,ok...so gulla is thai eggplants. i have not seen them here. hope to find it someday. gulla badane+nugge samabr is delicious for idli. i agree that they r soft and have lots of seeds:) i loved eating those seeds. so tomorrow its gonna be badane mela in FH? yayyyyy.... can't wait to see how u have dressed them up for the ramp show;)so arvind got nicley pampered by u all? he he...thats good. we went to meet our frieds and had good time:)

@trupti,he he... i hated almost all the vegetables when i was kid:) not anymore. i can eat almost all the veggies and enjoy eating them;) thanks sweetie:) i am feeling lots better now. so back in my office and doing my fav work, bloghopping;)

@ramya,yes. it bursts with all the falvours and i just love to mix it with curd rice and eat:) thank u for ur kind words ramya. i am blushing here:)

@sharmi,as most of the north indian food have garam masala, in south, especially in my native we use sambar/rasam powder in stir fries:) well, stop wondering and try it sometime lady:) just to give u some idea it tastes sweet, tangy and spicy. hpe that helps;)

@madhu,a warm welcome to spice corner and thank u for ur compliments:) by the way, do u have ur blog?

@roopa,thanks lady and i am feeling much better now. back in my office:)

@linda,thank u dear:) u always encourage me with ur kind words:) u do get that green eggplant right? try using them to make this palya or u can use the normal purple eggplant like i did:)

@shn,LOL... many indian languages are greek n latin to me, too;) oh wow!! ur dad used to teach u in collage? thats really wonderful. i had many friends whose mom or dad used to teach us in school and collage and i really felt J;) and my hubby too falls into other catagory. not coz he hates it but he is allergic to eggplants. so i cook brinjals once in blue moon day:)

@archu,he he he... dont start with Putani now;) i no more look like putani now;)glad to know u enjoyed mango rice. did u make cucumber-mint raita to go with it? and lady, i too love it the next day:)

@sig,yup, my daddy is the stongest;) he is a wonderful person and fun to be with:) i dont remember the day i spent without we both pulling one another's leg:) love him a lots.he he he... really? i never knew u would like the look of this dish;)

@coffee,ur dad is also a dentist??? as a kid i liked brinjal more than potato:) so u can figure out how much i love this dish:)

@viji,u r my kind of gal:) i too am a big fan of brinjal in any avtar, except for raw ofcourse;)

@anh,a warm welcome to spice corner anh:) do let me know if u try it out:) by the way, i just checked ur blog and glad that u stopped by and left a comment. or else i would have missed one of the gorgeous food blog. will come back n go through it in leisure:)

@meena,thanks dear:) LOL...i am a total novice when it comes to photography but would love to share whatever i know:)

@bellur,aha!!! ennegai and jolada rotti...slurrp... just the name itself is enough to make me nostalgic and desire to eat them:)and as u said it, badane palya, anna, saaru...simplicity at its best! do i need to say anything else? :)

@ISG,he he... i too love the name badane. its cute rt? :)

@sandeepa,sometimes i wonder why we grow up so fast? childhood days were so much fun and merry:) miss those days...here i have to cook brinjal all for myself as K is allergic to it:) but i dont complain much;)

Same is case at my place.. dad never bargains and mom does a lot :DNice recipe.. And gr8 snaps.. Dunno much variations with eggpalnt.. would love to try it.. my entry for JFI might come tonight or tomoro :)

The badanekayi palya looks delicious! Your dad must be awesome! I admire his altruistic approach to his work. Congrats on the century, Sup! I've not been blogging lately but will be sure to resume with gusto (I think) coz my folks and my sis are visiting us next week and there will be a lot more enthu to cook then! :)

Hi Supriya,ME and especially 'N' Loves badne palya a lot.Try adding tomatoes in the bigining with all mustard and dhal ,they enhance the flavour .I just love your pics.And the the write ups are mindblowing really good.keep up the enthu dear.

@richa,look out for imli in any indian grocery richa. i am sure u will find them. if using impli paste, then about 1/2 tbsp of paste will do. we have huge imli tree in our estate and i liked to eat raw, green imli with salt:)

@vani,thanks sweetheart. i know how busy u must be. good to know that ur family will be visiting u soon. i am sure u will get sometime to blog then and with ur family around we will get to see more recipes for sure:)

@padmaja,we follow almost similar recipe for karela and bhindi too. will post the recipe someday. mean while do post ur recipe girl:)

Sia,me too missed your post..how came with 40 already..!!..Yipee,me too drafted the almost same recipe of brinjals..hmmph.but its my own version..not regional..sweet n spicy brinjals....coming up..:)

I did a small mistake while posting the koshmbir,sia,just clicked to publish in a hurry not refreshing it to mondays date..so it went back to stick to saturday(drafted date)in mathy kands food blog desam as well...so you might have missed.that way :)

@roopa,yes roopa. badane gojju has similar ingredients but usually brinjal is roasted as we do for baingan barta and is mashed. if u have different recipe plz do post it:) i will post the gojju recipe sometime soon:)

@coffee,oh u too?...i am the only one in my family who escaped from becoming a doctor:) my sis, dad, uncles, cousins, aunts all r doctors:)

Supriya,I was searching for a recipe of a sour and sweet eggplant dish, I ate at a restaurant It was called 'rasvangi'. When ever I went thru fellow blogger's rasavangi recipes, I knew that it was not what I am looking for. I think your recipe looks simlar one. Thx for sharing this one.

@suma,sorry for the late reply:) i am not sure if it is rasvangi. as far as i know its a telugu dish and bit spicy(i might be wrong) nevertheless, this palya tastes equally tasty with sweet and sour and spiciness in it. if u try this one do let me know what u think of it:)

Namaste! I am Sia and welcome to Monsoon Spice, my virtual home. Thank you for all your comments, inputs and feedback. I really appreciate the valuable time you spent browsing through my recipe repertoire.

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About Sia

Born in India and raised in fun and food loving family, I currently reside in UK with my better half and my two babies, five years old son and nine years old food blog. My cooking style has strong root in Indian culture and at the same time embraces the world cuisine with equal passion. With never ending love for food, spice and life, I am passionate about cooking and making Indian food less intimidating, healthy and easy to cook which reflects in my blog Monsoon Spice which has been ranked one among Top Indian food blogs. Read more…

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